A blog where I discuss intelligent issues and discuss rationality, logic, evidence and my non belief in sky daddies.

Wednesday, 24 June 2009

How old do people live to?

As you know, the bible says that people lived thousands of years. I think there are 3 explanations and i ask you to decide which is the most plausable:

The bible is trueThat people really live to thousands of years even though science has shown that people dont live that long. This option would only work if youre an idiot planning on throwing science out of the window

The bible is misunderstoodThat we are misunderstanding how they measured ages when the bible was written. The problem is that your bible was translated by a proper translator and so is unlikely to be mistranslated.

The people who wrote the bible were stupidThe bible was written before scientists discovered how long people live and before theyd worked when people die they just guessed and got it wrong.

Ckearky option 3 is the best explanation for this and i hope we all agree that the bible just got it wrong.

10 comments:

johnny
said...

Hi Mike,

First, you are a little inaccurate in your claim that the Bible says people lived thousands of years. In fact, the highest Biblical claim is Methuselah at 969 years, which is less than "thousands" of years.

Second, some scholars believe that the ages given in the (Genesis) geneologies are not refering to the age of an individual, but rather the the duration of a family or clan or tribe. Of course, i disagree with these scholars for a few reasonsl... one reason being that the Bible ends the individual's account as, " and he died." (for example: Gen 5:27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died. ) Yet, the next verse tells us that one of Methuselah's progeny was Lamech, who was the father of Noah.... therefore, the family/clan was still alive.

At anyrate...

You said in your option 3 that "the bible was written before scientists discovered how long people live".

I won't even mention your obvious 'spongecake-brain' blunder that you make (solely for entertainment purposes, i'm sure), thinking that peoples guesses were off by hundreds of years...

What i would really like to point out to you, Mike, is a different verse that was ALSO written before scientists came on the scene (also attributed to the same author of the longevity passages..

Gen 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.

Lookie that, Mike!!! 120 years.Have you ever looked at the longevity records in the Guinness Book of World Records? Pretty much in the ballpark, eh?

Now, let's look at how you've worded the first option...

That people really live to thousands of years even though science has shown that people dont live that long. This option would only work if youre an idiot planning on throwing science out of the window

Ok, so now you know that the Bible did not claim thousands of years. But i'm curious to see if you have any source data that has some scientist that has found a time machine and has gone back and affirmed that the key to the past is the present.IOW, even though the current longevity is about 120 yrs, the present does not limit what could have happened.

So, Mike, unless you can present a scientific experiment that can investigate the longevity of Adam or Methuselah or even Methuselah's dad, Enoch (365 years) who did not die (Gen 5:23-24; Hebrews 11:5), "throwing science out.." means nothing... it is impotent in this case.

So, surprise, surprise, surprise..

I'll go with:

The Bible is true.People really did live hundreds of years, and God said that He would lessen the max length down to 120.This is not something that science can investigate... but then again, science really can prove scientific positivism (which is what you try to do with these "science sayz" games)

Johnny, the oldest man alive today is 113 years old (It was only on the radio the other day, because the previous oldest man, also 113 but a few months older than this guy, died this week). That's pretty exceptional. And that's only because of medical advances that keep people alive much longer than we would in the natural world without our posh conformtable houses, hygiene and medicines (which obviously they didn't have back when that was written). So 120 years is a VERY optimistic figure, and again indicates that they got it wrong.

"Have you ever looked at the longevity records in the Guinness Book of World Records?"

Have you? You effin retard.

"I'll go with:

The Bible is true.People really did live hundreds of years, and God said that He would lessen the max length down to 120.This is not something that science can investigate... but then again, science really can prove scientific positivism (which is what you try to do with these "science sayz" games)"

Yeah, but then you're a fantasist, misguided, and oh so fucking thick its unbelievable. So think what you want, Forrest. Doesn't make it true.

Looking forward to the next post Mike.

I figure you can't argue with stupidity, but you can have a hell of a time insulting it!! :-)

You said, "And that's only because of medical advances that keep people alive much longer than we would in the natural world without our posh conformtable houses, hygiene and medicines (which obviously they didn't have back when that was written)"

"Back when it was written". OT manuscripts from before Christ, means that it is at the very least, 2,ooo yrs old (i believe Moses wrote most of the Pentateuch, but 2,ooo yrs gives you some wiggle room, CfT)Pretty amazing that all this medicine and clean living only affirms the Biblical claim of about 120 as a limit.

Then you said, " So 120 years is a VERY optimistic figure, and again indicates that they got it wrong." Which i'm sure you were refering to the person you mentioned, at "only" 113. However, i think you misunderstood the radio report, and you think that the two 113 were the oldest attained age. No... they are the current oldest, but there have been some that have lived longer than 113 (varified).And the current winner is still alive so he might make it to 120.

Here's a site about the oldest, varified who died in 1997 at 122, which, i concede, does pass the limit (And, it would be a better argument than you were actually attempting. Use someone that passed the limit rather than using a person that is still has a chance of beating the goal).

http://www.wowzone.com/calment.htm

And you had these words of brilliance... "Have you? You effin retard." regarding the Guinness Records Book.Let me guess... you looked at the Guinness website and saw that there were no listings, and figured i was fibbing... something like that, eh?

As the Guinness states in numerous editions from the 1960s to the 1980s, "No single subject is more obscured by vanity, deceit, falsehood, and deliberate fraud than the extremes of human longevity." --- wikipedia /Longevity_claims

Back in the days before the internet, books were actually printed on paper.

So yes, this effin retard has looked at the longevity records. (and even way back when i was a kid, there were some claims over 120 yrs... days or months, but still over)

Oh, and you seem to think that the extended longevity is attributed to medicine and hygene, but there are a few other factors that warrant mentioning...better record keepingmore people living beyond childhood diseases (yes, that's medicine, but the point is that if an infant dies, it really lowers the average.... plus, if he/she lives, he/she has a chance to reach the goal)

I figure you can't argue with stupidity, but you can have a hell of a time insulting it!! :-)

I've been there. I'm so haole i don't even know i'm haole. Eh brah?Lived on Oahu for almost two years (Schofield Barracks) about twenty years ago.I miss Island life. I'd like to take my wife there sometime...

But, alas... the Velvet Evolver probably meant 'NHL' which could mean Nat. Hockey League or Next Higher Level. :D